The article lists healthy white foods for picky eaters and discusses why picky eaters might prefer to eat white and beige foods.

Are chicken nuggets and crackers at the top of your picky eater’s list of favorite foods?

It is so common for extremely picky eater’s to prefer beige, white, brown, and yellow foods.

Often it’s not the color that picky eaters love. Instead, it’s the types of foods that fall into these categories.

The “beige diet” is a term that captures the carb-filled monochromatic bland diet that doesn’t vary much in color, taste, texture, or type.

Why Picky Eaters Like White and Beige Foods

If your child with autism has a limited diet, it’s likely that he is experience some barrier to eating. Autism eating barriers are often (but not always) due to sensory symptoms and/or skill-based deficits.

Children with eating challenges might struggle with sensory symptoms or lack the skills to eat foods of variety all shapes, sizes, and textures. They might prefer beige foods for a number of reasons:

• Beige foods tend to be consistent – packaged beige foods like crackers, chicken nuggets, french fries, and pasta look and taste the same every single time

• Beige foods tend to be bland

• Beige foods tend to be easy to eat – they don’t require much skill to chew or they might melt in the mouth so don’t need chewing at all

That’s all to say that in general, many beige foods are easy to eat; they’re reliable, don’t challenge the sensory system and don’t require much skill to consume. That’s why kids, and extremely picky eaters in particular, like them. With these foods, they always know what to expect and they know they can eat them comfortably.

Just because beige foods are easy to eat and easy for the sensory system to process, it doesn’t mean they can’t also be healthy!

Healthy white foods are not an oxymoron. Instead, white and beige foods can be part of a healthy diet. As you’ll read below, beige fruits and vegetables do offer a lot of nutritional benefit.

Nutrition Benefits of Beige (White) Fruits and Vegetables

Many people think that there are no healthy white foods. While eating a variety of foods in a variety of colors, white fruits and vegetables are still very nutritious.

White fruits and vegetables provide fiber along with vitamins and minerals that support immune function, bone and heart health; reduce inflammation; and balance hormones.

Healthy White Foods (Fruits and Vegetables) for Picky Eaters

The list of white and pale fruits and vegetables below is perfect for a child who primarily eats these colors and avoids other fruits and vegetables. Many of beige fruits and veggies have a mild taste, but may still seem new and scary to your selective eater.

But first!

If you struggle to get your child to try new foods, before offering these white fruits and veggies, read these tips to help make your first serving successful:

• How to Get your Child to Eat New Foods

• The Best Way to Serve New Foods to Picky Eaters

• A Picky Eating Tip That Will Change Your Life (and Expand Your Child’s Diet!)

• Picky Eating: 10 Simple Ways to Add New Foods and Avoid Meltdowns

Also!

I’ve compiled a bunch of recipes and serving ideas on a special Pinterest board if some of these white fruits and vegetables are new to you or push the boundaries of your culinary comfort zone.

Healthy White Foods – Fruits for Picky Eaters

• Bananas

• Apples

• Asian Pear

• Coconut

• White peaches

• Pears

• Frozen green grapes

• Pale honeydew

Healthy White Foods – Vegetables for Picky Eaters

• Fennel

• Daikon radish

• Kohlrabi

• Peeled zucchini and yellow summer squash

• Turnips

• Jicama

• Wax beans

• White carrot

• Cucumber (peeled or white)

• Cauliflower

• Mushrooms

• Jerusalem artichoke (aka sun choke)

• White corn

• Celery root (celeriac)

• Peeled radish

• Parsnip

• White asparagus

• Hearts of palm

• Japanese sweet potato

• Potatoes

• Garlic

• Onions

Recap

Extreme picky eaters often prefer to eat beige foods, usually in the form of carbohydrates and processed food items, and feel less comfortable eating fruits, vegetables, and proteins.

This list of healthy white foods can be a first step to introducing your child to fresh fruits and vegetables. Because foods that look similar to preferred foods are often easier to welcome, these could be helpful stepping stones to add nutrition and lead to new foods in your child’s diet.